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Fresh lemon can be an all-purpose superstar in your kitchen. Try these five hacks where lemon substitutes for hard-to-find ingredients, helps with kitchen cleanup and more.

1. Clean Your Cutting Boards

Scrub stubborn stains and bacteria from wooden or plastic cutting boards using half a lemon and coarse salt.

2. Make Buttermilk

Don’t have any buttermilk on hand for pancakes and salad dressing? Stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into a cup of low-fat milk; allow to sit for 5 minutes before using.

3. Make Ricotta Cheese

Lemon acts as the acid needed to curdle a steamy combo of milk and cream. Strain and voila — the best-tasting
ricotta cheese ever!

4. Replace Soy Sauce

Try lemon as a sodium- and gluten-free alternative to soy sauce! Once it’s incorporated into dishes like a stir-fry or sesame dressing, you’ll get a similar sensation, since sodium and citrus activate the same taste sensors.

5. Tenderize Meat

The pungent pucker of fresh lemon also helps to tenderize meat and poultry. Add fresh lemon juice to marinades or even use it to “cook” seafood in a
ceviche recipe.